His Ancient Heart (8 page)

"As will I," Wallace said.

"And I," Bryant said.

Before he knew it, all of the jailers were kneeling at his feet.

"Praise be to Amman," Fehri said. "General, what do we do now?"

"Bring me to my cell."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Talon

The Overlord didn't keep Talon waiting long.
 

Trock had barely had time to lock him and Oz in their cells and climb back up to the bastion with his men when the echoing of footsteps signaled that he had returned.
 

She came alone. Trock guided her in silence, from the second heavy iron gate at the bottom of the deep stairwell to the ten foot square block of stone and iron that made up Talon's cell.
 

"Leave us," she said to Trock. The jailer bowed his head, gave Talon a sidelong glance, and retreated away from them. The Overlord stood in front of the cell, staring in at him with a look of intense curiosity.

Talon looked back at her. She had always been attractive, and the slowed aging of the Cursed had maintained much of it. There was some gray in her hair now, a few lines around her eyes, and her skin was a little less silky smooth, but the underlying beauty was still there.

"Caela. It has been a long, long time."

"Talon. What are you doing here?"

"I was captured by your men."

She started laughing, a soft, melodic laugh that brought him back to another time. Another place. A quiet meal between friends, joking and talking. They had been so close once. As close as any man and woman could be without sharing in the physical. He had always been loyal to Alyssa, and as a Cursed she was forbidden.

"You expect me to believe that these soldiers captured you, when Feng and Clau could not?" She reached through the bars of the cell, putting her hand to his face. "What happened to you?"

Talon put his hand over hers. She didn't pull it away, or show any fear that he would turn on her. She knew he had been captured on purpose. She had to know it was to see her.

"I was hoping you would ask me that. Do you remember my boy, Aren?"

She shook her head. "No. I never met Aren. Talon, I haven't seen you in close to fifty years."

"Has it been that long?"

"Yes."

"I'm still alive."

"You haven't aged a day, though your hair could use a little attention."

"I'm not Cursed."

"You are one of
his
Generals. One of the... six, who remain. Every Overlord knows about the Generals, that you are special."

"They do?"

"Of course. You know that."

Talon shook his head. "No. I don't know that. There are so many things I've forgotten. My boy, Aren, he learned the truth about the Curse. That
he
has a cure. The Refinery."

He could tell she was surprised that he knew. She pulled her hand away and turned from him. "It isn't a cure, Talon. It comes back. It always comes back."

"The Refinery," he repeated. "It doesn't matter. There is a way to purify it, to heal it. How many of the Cursed have been killed, who would have gladly given their blood to have it cleaned? Aren found out about the Curse, what it was.
He
had him killed to keep the secret, and when I found out,
he
took my mind."

"Talon, I... I'm sorry for what you went through. If
he
killed your son, if
he
took your memories... I'm sure there was a good reason."

"Caela... there is no good reason, I assure you. I was
his
man. I made a promise to
him
that lasted a thousand years." She gasped at the number. "Yes. I said a thousand years. That is how long I have been wandering this Empire. That is how long
he
has been in control. Even so, it wasn't enough for
him
to trust me, to speak to me in truth. Why do you think that is?"

She was staring at him now, trying to make herself believe that he was as old as he claimed. "No one can live a thousand years. You claim that he took your mind. How can you be sure of anything you say?"

"Because I've been there. Where it all started. The Dark."

"The Dark is a myth."

"No, it isn't. It had another name once, long ago. Genesia. I lived there. So did
he
.
His
name was Jeremiah. He was what we called a wizard. He had power, like you."

"What do you mean?" There was a hint of fear in her voice. Fear that he was telling the truth.

"The Curse. It isn't what you think, or what he wants you to believe. The power, the magic isn't what makes you sick."

"I don't believe you."

"Yes, you do. Some part of you does. I can see it in your eyes."

She turned away from him, hiding her face and beginning to pace in circles in front of him, her hands clasped together behind her back. He could see the tension in them as she struggled to find some compromise between what he had said, and what she knew as the truth.
 

"Why do you think I disappeared?" Talon asked. "Why do you think
he
tried to hide me away, stealing my memories and turning me into a drunken fool? Why didn't he just kill me? At first, I believed it was because he valued our past friendship. Now I know it was because we are too rare, too valuable for what we are to be disposed of so easily."

She looked back at him. "And what is that?"

"A tool. A weapon. Only six of us remain."

"A weapon for what?"

"A war that is over."

"Then why does he need you?"

"The creature that attacked a nearby village, it was trapped with us in Genesia. It escaped when
he
destroyed the reactor."

"I have received reports of a monster. That is what you were intended to fight?"

"That, and worse. We discovered one in Genesia. It could be that there are more of them trapped somewhere. It could be that
he
doesn't know, and that is why we are still needed. The six of us... we are the only ones that can fight them."

"
He
wants you dead. I have orders to kill you at any opportunity."

"Because I know the truth."

She paused in her pacing, her expression grim.
 

"Talon, they are calling you the Liar, and all that I hear from you are words that reek of lies."

"Then why would I let myself be captured?" he said, his voice low and seething. He was and always would be a murderer. He had never been a liar.
 

"What I have heard, what I know is undeniably true, is that you murdered Overlord Iolis and General Feng. You incited a revolt in Elling. You freed every prisoner in the Washfall mines, while killing a number of
his
soldiers. I know that you are harboring a Cursed girl who has been helping you commit every act of treason, every type of crime I can imagine. I know you have killed a number of Mediators, and by the fact that you are here, and General Clau isn't, I imagine you killed him as well. I know your exploits are causing unrest and uprisings throughout the Empire, and there has been more death and chaos since you started this insane act of revenge than there has been since I became the Overlord of Varrow. If that isn't enough, you came to me, you let yourself be captured, because you think that simply telling me you are a thousand years old, making wild claims about being some kind of weapon, and suggesting that
he
is hiding something from
his
most trusted servants is going to somehow sway me to your cause?"

She stormed over to the cell, putting her hands to the bars and staring deep into his eyes. Her voice was soft when she spoke again.

"Talon, I have known you for many years. I have loved you from the time I was a young Mediator, newly assigned to your retinue. Even as I heard what you were doing, I wanted to believe there was a purpose to it. It terrifies me, but I
want
to believe you. If you were in my position, how would you feel about all that you have said, and I have said?"

Talon smiled, reaching out and putting his hand on hers once more. "I would have me hanged."

"Then why? Why did you come here? You know what I have to do. Why must you force me to do it?"

Talon kept his eyes on hers. He pulled in a deep, calm breath and slowly let it out. He could feel her pulse racing under his palm.
 

"Her name is Eryn."

"What?"

"The Cursed girl. The one they are calling the Whore. Her name is Eryn. She is very much as you were. Passionate, strong, loyal. A gift to the Empire. Like so many of the Cursed could be. Like so many of those who are trapped in the mines could be, given a chance. That's why I came, despite the odds. She's dying. No, she's changing. You have the cure. You can stop it. You can save her. It is the slimmest chance I have, but it is her only chance. I've sacrificed myself to you for that chance. To keep a different promise."

A tear rolled from her eye and down her cheek. "If only I could believe you. If only I were willing to commit treason in your name. You can't offer me any compelling reason to do either."

"I've offered you my life, and the truth."

"As you see it, and you question your own mind."

"Not in this."

"How can you say that?"

"I have proof."

She looked him over. "I see no evidence."

Talon's eyes finally left hers, rising and looking over her shoulder.

"Oz. Say hello to Overlord Prezi."

The juggernaut had been placed in the opposite cell. It had been standing in the dark corner of the prison with its back turned, invisible to her attention. Now it shifted and came forward so that she could see it.

"It is pleased to say hello to the wizard. It is pleased to follow First of Nine."

She pulled her hands away again, her head whipping between Oz and Talon.
 

"What kind of trickery is this?" she asked, her voice strained in her disbelief.

"Oz. Open your cell."

The juggernaut reached out with its arm, taking hold of the bars and pulling. The hinges snapped, and it lifted the heavy door aside.

"Talon?" Caela said. She backed away, her expression changing as she summoned her power.

"Oz, grab the Overlord. Be gentle."

"It is pleased to follow First of Nine."

Oz dropped the door with an echoing clang and started walking towards her. The darkness of the prison was replaced with blinding white light as streaks of energy flowed from the Overlord's hand and into the juggernaut. It hissed and smoked against the ircidium hide, chipping away at the layers of rust and grime that had collected over the centuries.
 

It didn't slow the creature at all.

Oz reached out and took her wrist, lifting it and holding it so the magic aimed for the ceiling.

She stopped the attack.

"Oz, where are you from?" Talon said.

"It is from Genesia."

"How old are you?"

"It has existed for one thousand four years, sixty-seven days, twelve hours, sixteen minutes, and nine seconds by the Empyrean calendar."

The Overlord was motionless, her arm still in its grip. "Talon, I..."

"Oz, let her go."

It opened its hand and released her arm.

"A relic," Talon said. "Oz is a juggernaut. He is the first version of what I was turned into. That the nine of us who were compatible were turned into. They still don't know the truth. None of us did. We won the war for all of our civilization, and when it was over...
he
seized the Empire for himself.
He
buried our past, our history.
He
killed everyone in Genesia to protect
his
secret.
He
has enslaved and killed many more since then to protect
his
secrets."

She stared at Oz, examining it.
 

"Look as closely as you must. I need you to believe me, Caela. You are the only one who can save Eryn. You are the only one who can help me stop the killing. I know you made a promise to
him
to protect the Empire and uphold its justice. I made a similar promise long ago. A promise that
he
has broken."

She circled the juggernaut, reaching out to touch the ircidium shell, putting her hand in front of its face to feel the warm breath generated by the moving of gears and the resonance of the ebocite heart at its center. "How is this possible?"

"We always had the magic. The power. It was different then, and we used it to bring joy and beauty and light to the world. Until we became greedy in it and pushed it too far. We polluted it. So many died... but that was a thousand years ago.
He
has the cure, and yet
he
still hunts the Cursed, killing most of them and brainwashing the rest. We defeated the Shifters, and yet
he
still mines all of the ircidium that can be found.
He
burns any reference to the past, keeps us in the dark. Again, why? I believe
he
has lost himself, fallen victim to the disease of power. This isn't the world that is supposed to be. This isn't the world that the Empire deserves."

She moved past Oz, back to his cell. She stood in front of him, her eyes moist, her chest heaving. "You're asking me to commit treason."

"I'm asking you to do what you know is right. We have followed blindly for too long." He held up his hands. "There is so much blood on these, a river couldn't hold it all. I can make this right. You can help me. We can bring the light back to the world, and take the fear and pain and suffering away from it for good."

"What if you fail?"

"Then I'll be erased from history as everything else has been."

She stood in front of him, considering once more. Then she put her hand up, and the cell unlocked, the door swinging open. She stepped in slowly, cautiously, and then reached out and took his hands. She kissed each one.
 

"It is good to see you again, Talon."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Spyne

They reached the ruins of the tower as evening approached, a pace that left the Historians laying out on the grass, their bodies screaming for relief. All except Spyne and Worm.

Spyne climbed through the rubble, all the way to the center where the dragon had burst from the depths. He peered down into the darkness, down to where he knew the remains of the reactor would rest, shattered ebocite and other stones amidst the debris from above. He didn't need to see it to know it was there.